The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1887-12-21
NO. 81.

d1s0Dey:
"Arise, dress yourself and follow me. ("
! As in dream the little miser followed,
but they went so swiftly that h. could
not see where they were going until at
last the stranger said:
"Open your eyes and tell me what you
see"
Peter Perkins stood and gazed With his
wizened face pale and frightened. He
seemed to be in vast place, so vast that
i appeared to be visible illimitable space.
There was no beginning nor end 10 any
where, and yet he was there in the midst
Of this inflnity Of distance, and before
him upon nothing stood great tables upon
which was piled a heterogeneous collection
of everything imaginable, and while he
was trying to understand this confusion,
he noticed that there had appear d, rank
,r rank and file on file, lmitless count
less numbers of cherubim and s,rnphim,
md in the midst of this throng sat upon
\ crystal throne Christ, the benign, the
owing, the pitiful. and his feature seemed
10 exude sweetness and mercy from every
ineament, and his smile was incffably
,ender
The cherubim and seraphin, sang
GLORY, glory to God in the higbt 81 and
on earth peace and good will to men,"
and as Peter Perkins watched this .uti1
full countenance he saw its expression
change. Sometimes 1t became that Of a
little child, sweet and infantine 4. ain 10
was tender and pitiful, then it looked as
it must have done when he said, Come
to me, all ye weary and heavy laden"
then it was filed full of sorrow and merci-
full goodness, and then it grew stern and
awful.
Then Peter Perkins noticed that there
was throng ever increasing and reach
ing far below them so that the cd Of
them was far out Of sight, and these
people came singly to Il y foot II the
stantly taken by the angels and laid upon
O pair of scales, which did not measure by
the weight Of the gift itself, but the
motive which lay like a living heart in
side it.
Then reter Perkins saw that all who
had not yet offered their gift had bur-
denly became aware that the b, rden fast
eied upon his own back was enormc us
and was very heavy. But he turned 10
the stranger and said: when will it Le
my turn"
And he had to stand there with the
great unknown weight upon his shoulders
for long hours, or days, or years, he did
not know which, while all these people
came by.
He noticed man who staggered by
and laid heavy weight Of gold chalices
and church candlesticks and other en-
blems at his feet, and Peter Perkins saw
with surprise that they flew up in the bal
ance as If Of air. Another offered a
church, which was as SO much paper, and
then poor old woman in rags staggered
along with a cup of cold water as her only
Offering. This sent the scales down, down,
as II it weighed ton, and then pale,
thin man came and offered only tear.
This, too, weighed heavier than gold.
Sometimes an old broken toy, or some
old, worn garments, or even a crust of
bread was laid at his feet, and these, too,
were very heavy on those wonderful
scales.
Peter Perkins noticed, too, that those
whose gifts were light disappeared from
view, and he watched until he saw them
fall into space and fade away in distance,
while the angels sent plying glances after
them.
Suddenly the Saviour said:
snow, Peter Perkins, what gift have
you brought to the Lord on this his birth
day?'
"Oh! am willing to give you all /
have, but this bundle upon my back was
not intended for you, but for the poor. II
you will let me go back will return with
something more worthy Of YOU"
"But what have you in that bundle?"
"Only some flour, and meal. and sugar,
and ham, and rice, which are not quite
fresh and good, but thought they would
do for the poor"-
"And have you never heard of my
words, when said: Tnasmuch as ye do it
unto the least of these, my children, ye
do it unto mei' Look, that cup of water
was given by sick and suffering woman
to one who suffered worse That holy
tear was given from pure heart that had
nothing else to offer, but you out OF your
abundance, offer only that which Is unfit
for food, and in offering that to the I'M
fortunate poor you have offered 1t to me. ="
81 did not knowl Oh, please let me 60
back and will do differently'-
"Alas! you have lived yom life, and
you must, like all that throng you have
seen, take your deeds with you to plead
for or against you. You can return no
more than they. All men bring their
passports Of good or evil actions with
them here, and once they have come
naught can change. They must bear their
fate. Some of them did not know but you
had n mother who taught you Alright, but
you forgot her words Of wisdom or put
them aside. So, now, 60 your way"
And with these words Peter Perkins
felt himself falling into perdition, weight
ed down by the moldy -four and spoiled
bread and sugar. Down, down he went,
faster than many others who were on the
way, and he cried out in his agony Of
fear, when suddenly with that cry he
awoke and sat up in bed. This then had
been dream! But 1t had opened his
eyes, and he began to see things us he
never had done before. He remembered
his mothers teachings, and he slept no
more that night. But as soon as daylight
dawned he dressed and went to the store
where poor, faithful Mark, who had shaved
ten years for him, was packing those
wretched things into the wagon.